Global (also known as Global Media & Entertainment)[2][3] is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysalis Radio, GCap Media and GMG Radio. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy.

Global also owns and operates one of the leading Outdoor (OOH) companies in the UK through its Outdoor Division.

History

Global was founded by Ashley Tabor in 2007, with financial backing from his father Michael Tabor,[4] and purchased Chrysalis Radio, where Global took control of the radio brands Heart, Galaxy, LBC and The Arrow. A year later on 31 October 2008 Global Radio officially took control of all GCap Media and its brands. The GCap Media name was dropped at this time. The GCap purchase gave Global the network of FM stations which GCap had operated as The One Network (many of which are now part of the Heart or Capital networks), plus Classic FM, XFM, Choice FM, Gold and Chill.

Following the acquisition of GCap Media, Global was required to sell off a number of stations in the Midlands. The stations were bought by Orion Media, headed by Phil Riley, former Chief Executive of Chrysalis Radio.

Heritage local radio stations in areas not already served by Heart FM were gradually rebranded and incorporated into a larger Heart Network that covers most of southern England and parts of North Wales - the stations which would become Heart in the North were acquired later. The remaining stations briefly formed The Hit Music Network before being merged with the Galaxy network and Capital London into the Capital network.

On 25 June 2012, Global acquired GMG Radio for a sum thought to be between £50 and £70 million; it continued to be run separately while a regulatory review was conducted. In May 2013, the Competition Commission ruled that Global would be required to sell seven stations across the network.[5]

The company initially offered to dispose of three stations, Real XS in Manchester and Scotland, and Gold in the East Midlands,[6] to try to prevent the sale of the seven stations mentioned in the ruling. When this failed Global Radio launched an appeal against the decision.[7]

The appeal was based on three grounds: (a) Real and Smooth as alternatives to the Greater Manchester stations, (b) reliance on "significant adverse effects" in the North-West (c) Global's remedy proposal (see above). The appeal was rejected on all grounds and the company must sell the seven stations it was ordered to in the original judgement,[8] Global said it was disappointed with the decision and was considering it further.[9]

On 6 February 2014, it was announced that a number of stations would be sold to the Irish broadcaster Communicorp, with programming generally to be supplied by Global under contract.[10] The deal involved control of Smooth Radio in the North East, the North West and the West Midlands, of Capital in South Wales and Scotland, of Real Radio in North Wales and Yorkshire, and of Real XS in Manchester. Most stay under their current brands though the Real stations will be renamed Heart and carry the Heart network off-peak programming as provided by Global. Global will retain control of all other stations, relaunching the existing Heart North West and Wales as Capital to allow Real North Wales (under Communicorp) to take on the Heart affiliation. Real XS in Paisley will be retained by Global and join the XFM network; the future branding and direction of Real XS in Manchester, under Communicorp, is unclear at the present time. Most of the Gold stations switched to taking the Smooth London/Network output, with the exception that, in areas where Smooth is available on FM (London, Manchester and the East Midlands), a reduced Gold oldies service will remain, run by Global and taking programmes from London as now.[citation needed]

It was announced in June 2015 that Darren Singer would be appointed as Global's chief financial officer.[11]

In February 2017, Global changed its company name from 'This is Global Limited' to 'Global Media & Entertainment Limited'. It also changed all its social media handles from 'thisisglobal' to 'global' and its web domain to global.com.[12][13] Global also combined the three sub-companies, Global Radio, Global Entertainment and Global Television into just 'Global'.

On 1 March 2018, Global launched a brand new awards show called The Global Awards celebrating the stars of music, news & entertainment across genres in the UK and from around the world. It took place at London's Eventim Apollo.[14]

In September 2018, Global announced the double acquisition of two key outdoor companies, Primesight and Outdoor Plus, creating Global’s Outdoor Division. The acquisitions were rumoured to be worth several hundred million pounds.

On 19 September 2018, rival commercial radio group Bauer announced that they were pulling out of the networked commercial radio chart show, The Official Vodafone Big Top 40, produced by Global's Capital. The move led to Global discontinuing the Sunday evening show for all stations outside of their own Heart & Capital networks, which the show continues to air on.

On 26 February 2019, Global Radio announced plans to replace the regional breakfast shows on Capital, Heart and Smooth with a single national breakfast show for each network. Capital's new breakfast show will launch in April, with the others following later in the year. The number of regional drivetime shows will also be reduced.[15]

Radio stations

Capital

A group of 11 stations playing hit music. On 3 January 2011, Capital London, The Hit Music Network and the Galaxy network became part of the nine-station Capital radio network; two former Heart stations became Capital in May 2014, and the most recent one is in Lancashire (former 2BR). All the stations' ID are Capital TSA – TSA's No.1 Hit Music Station. Local news hours were extended as part of the agreement to increase programme-sharing, and local advertising will remain locally sold; however, programming outside local hours originates from Capital's network studios in Leicester Square, London.

Capital XTRA

An all-urban station based in London, originally named Choice FM. Until Summer 2010 it was sold as part of the Galaxy network for marketing purposes only, but retained its own separate branding and programming. From then on, with Galaxy ultimately absorbed into Capital, Choice sat as its own brand within Global's lineup. On 7 October 2013 Choice FM was rebranded as Capital Xtra and made available nationally via DAB radio.[16]

Heart

Heart is a network of 21 adult-contemporary pop stations which currently broadcasts in numerous areas of England, Wales and central Scotland. The network began with a single regional station in the West Midlands and subsequently a second station in London. The third station, Heart 106 in the East Midlands (previously Century 106) was sold to Orion Media and run as a franchise retaining the Heart name until the start of 2011 where it was rebranded to Gem 106.

In 2009 many of the heritage CHR stations which had formed part of the One Network were renamed Heart, as were Ocean and South Hams Radio (which were not part of the One Network). Heart Hertfordshire is owned by Adventure Radio and uses the Heart name and format under licence from Global; Heart South Devon is partly owned by UKRD Group; and Heart stations in North Wales and Yorkshire (both formerly Real Radio licences) are operated by Communicorp; all other Heart stations are wholly Global-owned. All of the Real Radio stations were rebranded as Heart on Tuesday 6 May 2014. Heart is also available on DAB in some areas where there is not a local Heart station on FM; these areas generally receiving Heart Digital, which is a relay of Heart London. Heart has two sister stations including Heart 80s and Heart Extra.

Smooth

Acquired as part of the takeover of Real & Smooth Ltd, Smooth broadcasts a soulful easy listening format aimed at the over-50s on FM in six areas, and from March 2014 in AM in a number of areas previously served by Gold. After taking over Smooth, Global reversed the 'national' format that Smooth had taken in 2010 – whereby a network version of the station was broadcast nationally on DAB with all English FM stations sharing this content – and reintroduced local breakfast and drivetime shows. Two of the Smooth areas had previously been Jazz FM stations, and three had originally been Saga stations; the North-East service launched as Smooth on a licence originally awarded to Saga.

Radio X

Radio X (formerly XFM) broadcasts alternative rock and independent music. It began officially in 1997 as an independent London station, it was purchased by Capital Radio Group (now Global) in 1998. The XFM brand was extended in 2006-7 with the launch of stations in central Scotland, Manchester and South Wales. The Scottish station was rebranded to Galaxy Scotland and subsequently Capital Scotland, and the South Wales station was sold to Town & Country Broadcasting, becoming Nation Radio.

From 7 April 2014 96.3 Real Radio XS in Renfrewshire switched to the Xfm brand; this saw the station swap from taking Real XS Manchester's networked shows outside local hours, to those of Xfm London. The Renfrewshire station was available across central-belt Scotland on DAB radio, giving it the same coverage area as the prior Xfm Scotland had done. Xfm London was also available outside the capital as a digital service on a number of the local DAB multiplexes around the country.

From September 2015, XFM was replaced with new 'national' station Radio X, which took up the former XFM slots on FM in London and Manchester, and a national DAB berth. (The Paisley FM franchise was returned to Ofcom, and most local-level DAB slots were turned over to Gold.)

Gold

A network of stations principally dedicated to music from the 1950s to the 1980s, there are two different variants of the station; England & Scotland, and Wales. Many of these were the AM sister stations to heritage CHR stations which are now Heart or Capital stations; though Gold Manchester was originally a standalone station Fortune 1458 and Lite AM before becoming part of the Big-AM and later Capital Gold networks. On DAB, Gold is available in some areas which do not have Gold on AM; in these areas Gold UK is carried, though it may carry local branding on the label. Global chose to close some unviable AM relays of Gold, but has continued to serve these areas on DAB. In the West Midlands, after the divesture of some radio holdings to Orion Media, the Gold brand continued as a franchise, however, in late 2012 these stations were rebranded as Free Radio 80s and no longer carried Gold network programming.

Most Gold stations on AM/local DAB transferred to receive their network programming provision from Smooth Radio on 24 March 2014; local news/travel and advertising drop-ins into the network programming feed continue as previously provided under Gold, and the former Gold stations in Wales continue to offer a four-hour local show as Smooth Wales. Three Gold areas where Smooth is already provided on FM – London, Manchester and the East Midlands – retain a reduced Gold service on AM and (bar Manchester, where capacity is unavailable) local DAB, with most presented shows (aside from a daily morning show, and Simon Hirst's vinyl showcase) ceasing.[17]

A number of areas gained or regained Gold as a DAB service in September 2015 in space vacated by XFM, following XFM's move from local to national transmission as Radio X.

Digital-only stations

Smooth Extra launched at the end of 2014 to broadcast nationally on Digital One (in the slot previously occupied by the network Smooth Radio service) with a 'melodic music from past decades' format (some programming is simulcast with Smooth London). A previous plan to launch a service of "music from the 70s, 80s and 90s" in the Digital One capacity[18] ultimately did not go ahead. Smooth added two further digital siblings on 3 September 2019; Smooth Country (previously a Global Player stream) and Smooth Chill, the successor to Chill.

A pop-up digital Christmas music station, Smooth Christmas, was operated by R&S in the run-up to Christmas of 2011 and 2012, and having not run in 2013 was revived by Global in 2014 but was in 2015.[19]
In 2016, Smooth Christmas was not revived, instead Heart Extra Xmas, a pop-up digital Christmas music station,, appeared from 12 November 2016 until 27 December 2016. It returned on 9 November 2017.[20]

PopBuzz is a platform which combines a music stream of the fastest trending tracks in social media with GIFs, videos, articles and digital goodness from around the web. It also has an online radio station called Pop Buzz Radio. PopBuzz also release a podcast every week.[21]

We The Unicorns is a platform that brings stories from YouTube and online videos. They make specialised content for fans such as videos, quizzes and interviews.[22]

Events

Global produce over 150 events for its radio brands annually. These include Capital's Summertime Ball and Jingle Bell Ball, Heart Live and Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall.[23] It also produces its own Global Awards, which recognizes the most popular songs across its radio stations.[24]

Global's Newsroom

All of Global's stations broadcast news updates under the name of Global's Newsroom. Local and national bulletins are produced and Global's newsroom also provides the news to Global's news station LBC. In terms of weekly audience reach, Global's newsroom is the second largest news broadcaster in the UK, second only to the BBC.[citation needed]

The Global Awards

The Global Awards which started on 1 March 2018 are held by Global and reward music played on its own stations. Their Chief Commercial Officer was pleased that The Global Awards were planned to return in 2019.[30]

List of ceremonies

Charity

Global's Make Some Noise is Global's in-house charity.

Every year Global's Make Some Noise has an annual appeal day where its radio stations come together to raise money for small projects supporting youngsters and their families living with illness, disability or lack of opportunity, in their local communities.

Before Global's Make Some Noise, some of Global's stations ran their own charity's such as Help a Capital Child, Have a Heart and the Classic FM Foundation.[31]

In 1975, Capital FM’s charity Help a London Child was established by the late Sir Richard Attenborough, to help disadvantaged young people in the capital. He once said: “Disadvantaged children don’t have less imagination, just less opportunity to express it.”

In 2014, Global's Make Some Noise was formed.[32] 9 October it was Make Some Noise day, where all of Global's brands came together. Make Some Noise raised more than 1 million pounds.[33]

In 2015, Global's Make Some Noise ran its second year on 8 October they came all came together. They raised £1,955,869.[34]

In 2016, Global's Make Some Noise returned on 7 October. In total £2,860,897 was raised.[35] In the financial year 2016-2017 £0.98M was spent by Global Charities on fund raising.[36]

In 2017, Global's Make Some Noise returned on 6 October and raised a record breaking £3,534,628.[37]

Criticism

In February 2009, Global and LBC were the subject of criticism by technical and scientific bloggers following their threat of legal action against medical journalist Ben Goldacre for publishing part of an LBC 97.3 broadcast by Jeni Barnett on his website.[38] The move was interpreted as an attempt to suppress criticism and debate rather than enforcement of copyright.